Waiting
by DustyDreamer
Summary: What was Jareth upto during the goblin battle? - OneShot


_A/N - OK so this is really my take on what Jareth was doing during the goblin battle. And yes I did tweak the ballroom scene a lot I know. Wow- just couldn't help myself! _

_My music for this piece was the entire plumb album "Chaotic Resolve" - it was on repeat so I heard the whole lot through about 6 times =)_

_Anyway enjoy, and please review...x!_

* * *

Her fingers fumbled nervously with the bodice of her overly dazzling dress; Sarah had absolutely no idea of how she'd come to be here, wherever 'here' was

Her fingers fumbled nervously with the bodice of her overly dazzling dress; Sarah had absolutely no idea of how she'd come to be here, wherever 'here' was. In-fact she was finding it difficult to recall anything at all. There was only one thing she was certain of: the curious peachy taste that stroked every cell in her mouth had not always been there.

She'd been busy examining her dress for some time. Lavished with pearls and jewels, and floating gracefully to the floor in perfectly designed tumbles of fabric, the dress was made for a fairytale. Looking up from her stunning gown for the first time, she now took notice of her surroundings.

Thousands of tiny glittering orbs hovered around the outskirts of the room; orbiting it as though it were the moon and they the stars that graced the black night sky. The colours around the room were ones Sarah had never seen before in her life, whatever her life was, and they all bestowed a silvery glow upon the large room; that Sarah now noted was full.

Dancers swirled gracefully around her and she felt pathetically out of place. At a first glance she couldn't be sure they were even human: their faces were oddly coloured and severely distorted. However, after letting her eyes follow them for a while Sarah found them to be wearing masks.

"_Odd_," she thought, "_aren't dancers supposed to be beautiful? Then why are they deforming themselves with such hideous disguises!"_ Sarah smiled at her musing; still, her comment may as well have been shouted out loud, for as soon as she'd thought to criticize the dancers, several (now unmasked faces) turned sharply in her direction to give her contemptuous glares.

With her fingers tracing nervously on the pattern of her gown's bodice, Sarah turned and treaded clumsily through the labyrinth of dancers until she found a space where she could blush without being stared at. Looking back the way she'd came, it came to her attention that there was not one dancer on their own but her: they were all paired off, spinning stylishly around the room. The ladies in their colourful gowns, and the men in their gentlemanly suits; together they looked like twirling figures that'd been snatched right out of a child's music box.

"Sarah!" someone with a harsh, deep yet somewhat familiar voice called out to her. She peered anxiously through the dancers to find someone she recognised. It only took her a moment and it was then that she saw him.

Stood amidst a gathering of twirlers he stared right at her and Sarah saw that, like her, he was neither dancing nor did he hide his face behind an ugly mask.

For the tiniest part of a moment recollection, then disbelief flickered across his features which, like his voice, Sarah found familiar. A long mane of golden hair fell down his shoulders, and his pale skin glowed more than anything else in the dreamy ballroom.

His beautifully mismatched eyes bore into hers from across the room, searching for something in Sarah's chocolaty depths. He raised his hand enough for her to see and beckoned her over to him.

Sarah urged her feet forward, for they seemed to drag a little behind, and pushed her way through the crowd; not caring how many people she collided with and, with her interests elsewhere, she left a long trail of annoyed dancers in her wake.

Sarah reached the point where she was sure he'd stood only moments ago, the familiar stranger, but he was gone. She frantically searched the room with her eyes as for some distant reason she knew she had to find him; simply because she had to. He had beckoned her to him after all.

"Sarah, I am here," A soft whisper caressed her ear as two strong arms wound their way around her waist. She covered them with her own.

"_Who are you_?" Sarah asked herself. She knew too well she had not uttered a word as her lips were still firmly shut, but still his reply to her question came.

"You know very well who I am." At this she spun to get a closer look at his face, to prove him wrong. She had absolutely no idea who he was.

But again she found him not there. Was this a joke? Surely he didn't expect her to keep looking for him did he?

Now in a strange panic, she began to run back through the sea of masked figures; which were now swirling so fast they were nothing more than a blur to her.

"I'm waiting Sarah. You can do it – find me!" his voice echoed in her eyes yet no one else troubled themselves to look up at his loud words. It was as though no one but her could hear a word of his pleas.

As her feet stumbled over her dress miles below her, Sarah was beginning to feel so dizzy that she was sensing a feeling of nausea.

But as soon as it came it was gone: replaced by another, stronger feeling.

Herds of butterflies fluttered inside her and electrically energy surged through her body as Sarah found what she'd been looking for.

She would not be foolish enough to lose him again, so she gripped his arms as tightly as politeness would allow and held him to her. She had no idea where she was or why she was there. She needed answers and a strong instinct inside her head told her this man could give her them.

His eyes, now that she could see them closely, were clouded by some foreign emotion Sarah had never encountered before: Fear merged with eagerness, authority together with weakness and arrogance fighting with uneasiness.

Sarah could have lost herself in his eyes forever yet when she realised the room had begun to spin her senses were unwillingly reawakened as her body became her own again. They were dancing together, turning with patent grace around the now vacant ballroom.

"_Funny,_" she thought, "_I hadn't even realised they'd left!" _

"_Do you feel safe being alone with me Sarah?" _She knew it had been her dancing partner that had spoken, for who else could it be? yet she was also sure he had not moved his lips the tiniest fraction.

"_Perhaps words aren't needed here," _Sarah thought

"_No. This is your creation and apparently you prefer to communicate with thoughts Sarah,"_ the man smiled at her

"_You still haven't answered my question though," _he reflected

"_Yes of course. Why, what reason is there for me not to?" _Sarah mused loudly

"_Then that's why the dancers left Sarah, you wanted them to leave us alone." _He stated it so simple the most doubtful man on earth could not have questioned him.

"_Where am I?" _she stared into his eyes as intensely as he into hers.

"_I'm afraid only you know that Sarah,"_

Sarah stopped dancing and searched for any clues in his face.

"_Who __are __you?"_

"_Does it make any difference." Came his silent remark; it was not a question and she had no answer to it._

"_But I can't remember __anything!__"_ Sarah mentally stressed to him, "_and I have this feeling I'm forgetting something, something important! I can't even remember where I was right before I appeared here." _

The fruity, peach like taste had returned to her mouth and a strange mist, flickering like a bat's wing, obscured her mind and she immediately lost her train of thought.

His hands had found their way up to her shoulders and now gripped them as he bent his face down to within an inch of Sarah's. The closeness was strange to Sarah and she did not fail to notice that the strange emotion had returned to his eyes as they bore into her.

"_Does it really matter where you are Sarah – or are you merely afraid of what will happen now you're here?" _

Her eyes remained fixed on hers and she found her body did not belong to her again as she let him continue their dance.

Sarah barely registered what was happening; did not notice the music had changed from the upbeat bounce it had been, to the slow romantic tune that now hummed quietly in the background.

She knew there was something in the way his eyes, now tinged with superiority, kept on her, unblinking.

There was also something in the way that the golden clock hanging across the room was turning its hands in an oddly speedy manner.

"_Do all clocks have 13 numbers?" _Sarah pondered

She turned her attention back the man before her, who now spun them around so fast the ballroom contracted itself into one silvery haze, and noted he had pulled them closer together.

She felt uncomfortable now and started to slip out of his strong hold.

"_You won't leave me Sarah," _he smiled strangely, as if challenging her to do so.

She turned from him quickly and staggered her way over to where she was sure she had first appeared.

There was no door at all, only the collection of glittering orbs that continued right around the room.

Somehow she knew she shouldn't go through them. Still, would it not be just as unwise to stay here, in a place she didn't know with a man she couldn't quite place?

Her heart hammered harder in her chest now. "_What if there is no way out_?"

"_Oh you can leave this place easily!" _His thoughts interrupted her heart's drumming beats. She looked around wildly for him to ask '_exactly how!'_ but he was nowhere to be seen.

"_How do your dreams normally end Sarah?"_ he asked meaningfully – he knew exactly how they _always_ ended.

So this place was a dream was it? Her dream too.

"_Traditionally." _He murmured to her. She could feel him close behind her; his head was inches from hers…

Sarah realised then what she needed to do. She let her eyes fall to the floor

As she faced him: embarrassed to let him find any childish emotions there.

Every one of Sarah's dreams ended the same way…

The famous line she knew so well swam to the forefront of Sarah's mind. Even in this strange place, she couldn't forget the line that concluded almost every one of her favourite fairy-tales.

Then, just as it had been for Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Snow White and all the other make believe princesses, Sarah heard the famous line in both her and this beautiful stranger's minds as she raised her head: "_ and they lived happily ever after…" _Their lips met as he wrapped his arms around his fair princess and as though by magic the dream ended.

* * *

Jareth turned the crystal over in his hands. Again and again he watched the same scene unfold before him, and each time he did his eyes moistened a little more.

He leaned against the large open window of his throne room, miles above his labyrinth; below him the yells, bangs and thunderous collisions of the battle were settling. He knew she was coming closer, fast. If only Sarah could see: every step she took towards his castle, to their final confrontation, was another step away from the dream that now glimmered feebly within the crystal Jareth held, close against his body. He treasured it now with every ounce of his being because he knew that soon it would be nothing more than a memory.

A loud crash sounded from the entrance to the castle: she was coming.

He didn't bother to wipe away the tears as they brimmed over his sad eyes; but simply let them fall as he glided up the stairs to the Escher room, to wait for Sarah. Wait to have his heart tore as he watched her destroy her dreams, unable to stop her. Jareth had just disappeared behind the final corner, out of sight, when Sarah and her companions bounded into the throne room.

Perhaps things might have turned out differently, had Sarah only seen the crystal that rested on the window ledge, right where Jareth had left it for her...


End file.
